Established in 1960

Developed by Forestville Park Development, Inc.

A Nonprofit Corporation

Submitted by Frank L. Anderson 1989 –

The Good Ol’ Days

In February 1960, a small group of Forestville citizens met as a Cub Scout Committee to finalize plans for the Annual Cub Scout Carnival held each year on the Forestville Elementary School grounds. This meeting was at the home of Mr. and Mr. Tolley, 1.5 miles south of town on Gravenstein Highway. At the conclusion of the meeting the group’s discussion strayed into the concerns and needs for some type of facility in the community that could serve as a center for all the youth and youth groups in the Forestville area.

From that small beginning the inspiration and enthusiasm began to grow. To keep it rolling the group met again about two weeks later at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Martin Lorenzo to further explore the possibility. The spirit picked up momentum and at the close of that meeting we decided we would meet again to: (1) choose a name for the organization, (2) find a permanent meeting place, (3) agree on a method of raising funds, and (4) to later determine just what kind of youth facility might be within our reach as an outcome of our success in fund raising.

The phones began to ring as we spread the word throughout the community and gossip circles. We rallied as many of the town’s community-minded citizens to the cause as we could reach, and invited them to attend the next meeting.

In early March 1960, we met at the old Firehouse. We were unaware at the time that it was to become our meeting headquarters for several years to come. Seventeen people attended that night and chose the name “Forestville Youth Betterment Association” for the new organization name. It was decided that Robert’s Rules of Order would prevail in conducting all meetings. “Andy” Anderson was asked to serve as chairman. That meeting has always been referred to as our first organizational meeting.

Forestville Youth Betterment Association

1965 BBQ

The first panel of Officers for the Forestville Youth Betterment Association was elected that night from the group of 17 that attended. We now had a president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer. Everyone in attendance kicked in $1.00, and our first bank account for $17.00 was opened. One of the decisions reached that night was that the fund raising event would be a chicken BBQ and carnival. It would be held on Memorial weekend Sunday, May 29, 1960. Now we needed to find a suitable location.

During the following three weeks we fanned out to find a location and finally accepted Mr. Paul Speer’s generous offer to let us use hi 1.5 acre sheep pasture on Mirabel Road, and we are still there today.

During the months of April and May, 1960, with only nine weeks to go, we promptly began to get ready for the big day. We tore out fences, started disking up the ground, dragged logs behind tractors to smooth the ground, graded out an entrance and exit from the highway for one-way traffic flow and we often held work party sessions at night after work until the wee hours of the morning and on weekends.